Meadows, Stanley John, Capt

Profile is incomplete as to units in the South Pacific.

Prior to the incident in which he was killed, Captain Stanley had served in the South Pacific as a P-47 fighter pilot. He was severely injured in a crash in New Guinea, warranting his medical discharge. However, he asked to remain on active status.

He had quite a reputation as a skeet shooter, holding several awards in Iowa and Nebraska.

He had enlisted on 26 April 1941 at Des Moines, Iowa as an Air Cadet with 3 years of college at Drake University in Des Moines. He completed his initial pilot training at Randolph Field just prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor. He became the Assistant Director of training at Bruning AAF, Nebraska with the 262nd Fighter Pilot Training Squadron (262nd Combat Crew Training School).

On 3 August 1944, Captain Stanley Meadows was the pilot of a a C-47A (42-23652) that crashed during severe turbulence in a lightning storm over Naper, Nebraska. The weather was considered, subsequently, to have been tornadic.  From research, it appeared that the aircraft crashed on its back.

The aircraft was carrying 24 lieutenants who were recent graduates of the P-47 pilot training program of the 262nd Fighter Pilot Training Squadron, Bruning Army Air Field, ferrying them to the Pierre Army Air Field in South Dakota for advanced training.

These men were the entire graduating class at that time. There were no survivors in this accident.

Crew
Capt. Stanley J. Meadows, pilot, Grimes, IA
Capt. Robert K. Bohle, copilot, Chicago, IL
Capt. Leslie B. Roberts, Flt. Surgeon, Brooklyn, NY
Sgt. Orson H. Hutslar, Crew Chief, Springfield, OH

Passengers (P-47 pilots)
2nd Lt. William F. Acree, Fairbury, NE
F/O John F. Albert, Chicago, IL
2nd Lt. William C. Armstrong, Nashville, MO
2nd Lt. Millard F. Arnett, Jr., Fairmont, WV
2nd Lt. Herbert A. Blakeslee, Eddyville, NE
2nd Lt. George E. Boeckmann, Charlotte, NC
2nd Lt. Jack L. Brown, Milwaukie, OR
2nd Lt. Richard E. Brown, San Leandro, CA
2nd Lt. James C. Burke, Jr., Milton, MA
2nd Lt. Donald J. Clarkson, Kansas City, MO
1st Lt. Lloyd L. Hemphill, Joplin, MO
2nd Lt. Arthur Johnson, San Diego, CA
1st Lt. Clayton R. Jolley, Del Rey, CA  (twin brother)
1st Lt. Leonard C. Jolley, Fresno, CA  (twin brother)
2nd Lt. Gerald C. Kelle, Middletown, MD
2nd Lt. Jack E. Lytle, Morton, TX
2nd Lt. Robert E. Nesbitt, Jr., Chicago, IL
2nd Lt. Bernard W. O'Malley, Los Angeles, CA
2nd Lt. Anthony J. Paladino, Los Angeles, CA
2nd Lt. Bruce S. Patterson, Cleveland, OH
2nd Lt. Lelan A. Pope, Oklahoma City, OK
2nd Lt. Charles V. Porter, Prosper, TX
2nd Lt. Pat N. Roberts, Chicago, IL
2nd Lt. LaVon H. Sehorn, Klamath Falls, OR

Captain Meadows was interred in Sunny Hill Cemetery, Grimes, Polk County, Iowa.  

Notes/Links:

Probably flew the P-39 or P-40 in the South Pacific, perhaps with the 8th FIghter Group, flying first out of Australia then out of Papua New Guinea.

Those Who Flew, Turner Publishing Co., 2002, pp. 206+ (Detailed analysis of this loss)

http://www.ozatwar.com/8pursuit.htm No definitive information at this time.
http://www.nebraskaaircrash.com/memory/naper.html
http://www.nebraskaaircrash.com/crashsites/naper.html
http://www.nebraskaaircrash.com/highwaysigns/napersign.html (memorial)
http://www.angelfire.com/ks/phxbrd/ http://www.naper28.com/The_Crash.php
http://www.angelfire.com/ks/phxbrd/armyrpt.html (report) Loss attributed to structural failure
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruning_Army_Airfield

http://www.angelfire.com/ks/phxbrd/victims.2.html (photos of the men)
http://www.angelfire.com/ks/phxbrd/MeadowsStanleyJ.html (Captain Meadows background)
http://www.angelfire.com/ks/phxbrd/fullreport.html

http://sites.google.com/site/lostairmen/

Newspaper articles: "Local", Spirit Lake Beacon, 11 March 1943, page. (Speaks of his being
home recuperating from his broken leg and injuries. Surmise the crash occurred in late 1942 or
early 1943). Upcoming Book: March 2011: Patrick M. Healey, The Lost Airmen:262nd Combat
Crew Training School , South Dakota, 2011.

From: http://www3.gendisasters.com/nebraska/1400/naper,-ne-area-plane-crash,-aug-1944
"Harry Helenbolt and MRS. Henry Fee, farm residents, said they 'saw the plane come out of a
small but 'very violent cloud' at about 8:30 p. m. during an electrical storm,"'Thursday night. They
said the motors sounded as though the plane was in trouble, and after a flash of lightning it
appeared the plane was burning from the bottom. The tail, they said, seemed to come off in
pieces and later one wing fell off and landed on its back in a gully."   from the
Council Bluffs Nonpareil, Iowa , 4 August 1944.